33.7 million customer data leaked
Data breach is an unfortunate attack that businesses often suffer. Failing to address these breaches is even worse as it costs businesses reputational and privacy damage.
A breach at Coupang that leaked the data of 33.7 million customers has been linked to a former employee who kept access to internal systems after leaving the organization.
About the incident
The news was reported by the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency with news agencies after an inquiry that involved a raid on Coupang's offices recently. The firm is South Korea's biggest online retailer. It employs 95,000 people and generates an annual revenue of more than $30 billion.
Earlier in December, Coupang reported that it had been hit by a data breach that leaked the personal data of 33.7 million customers such as email IDs, names, order information, and addresses.
The incident happened in June, 2025, but the firm found it in November and launched an internal investigation immediately.
The measures
In December beginning, Coupang posted an update on the breach, assuring the customers that the leaked data had not been exposed anywhere online.
Even after all this, and Coupang's full cooperation with the authorities, the officials raided the firm's various offices on Tuesday to gather evidence for a detailed enquiry.
Recently, Coupang's CEO Park Dae-Jun gave his resignation and apologies to the public for not being able to stop what is now South Korea's worst cybersecurity breach in history.
Police investigation
In the second day of police investigation in Coupang's offices, the officials found that the main suspect was a 43-year old Chinese national who was an employee of the retail giant. The man is called JoongAng, who joined the firm in November 2022 and overlooked the authentication management system. He left the firm in 2024. JoongAng is suspected to have already left South Korea.
What next?
According to the police, although Coupang is considered the victim, the business and staff in charge of safeguarding client information may be held accountable if carelessness or other legal infractions are discovered.
Since the beginning of the month, the authorities have received hundreds of reports of Coupang impersonation. Meanwhile, the incident has caused a large amount of phishing activity in the country, affecting almost two-thirds of its population.
